


Of Big Wolves and Small Flames

by disaster_j



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hales, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Angst, Fluff, In the end, M/M, Magical Realism, Polish Stiles Stilinski, Sick Character, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Sterek Valentine's Exchange 2019, Stiles Stilinski Speaks Polish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:04:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17756858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disaster_j/pseuds/disaster_j
Summary: There is a small flame on the small of Derek's back. It flickers and shrinks and sputters but it never dies out. Derek doesn't know whether to be relieved or not.~~Stiles finds solace in the inky black wolf that wanders around his skin but always ends up nestled over his heart one way or the other. Yet, the hope it gives is all too bittersweet.~~In a world where the Marks on your body are said to be representations of your Soulmate, meant to help you seek out your Destined, a Mark that never moves can only bring pain and misery to it's bearer... Right?





	Of Big Wolves and Small Flames

**Author's Note:**

  * For [simplyn2deep](https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplyn2deep/gifts).



> Written for the Saint Valentine's Sterek Exchange.
> 
> I've been meaning to write a Sterek fic sicne forever now and figured this was a good way to get me to actually do it.
> 
> I got [Liz](http://simplyn2deep.tumblr.com/) as my giftee who gave me these awesome options-
> 
> ♥Ink marks (similar to tattoos) are on your body. When your soulmate is in the vicinity, it’ll slowly move, as if reaching out. When you two touch, the tattoos will connect with each other.  
> ♥You have this limited stack of sticky notes. Write whatever you want on it, and that note would magically appear somewhere in your soulmate’s line of sight during that day.  
> ♥Your soulmate leaves coloured footprints only visible to you.
> 
> Y'all know which one I picked, although I did take some creative liberty with how the Marks work, but the base is the same. Also, I swear this was supposed to be a one shot but because I am apparently incapable of self control when it comes to writing long fics, it's instead three chapters long.
> 
> Anyyyyyway. Liz, I really hope you like this! 
> 
> And Happy Valentine's everyone! I hope you get to spend this day with people you love. (Imma spend it by treating myself cause self love and what not xD)

Derek’s Mark starts blooming across his skin when he is but a year old. At first it is just a tiny blue flame on the small of his back; barely bigger than a tea light. Over the years it grows in size just as the boy whose skin it adorns. The flame grows and stretches across his skin but it hardly ever moves.

It is the strangest of things.

Marks are known for having a mind of their own after all. They are known for wandering around one’s skin, settling in strange places, growing bigger and smaller in tune with the emotions of one’s Soulmate. Most of all, the Marks are known for gravitating towards said Soulmate. Especially when your Destined is in your vicinity.

Derek’s Mark does absolutely none of those things.

Instead, it flickers every now and then; squirming and shrinking as if ready to die out any second. It never actually does.

It terrifies Derek whenever he feels the shift nonetheless. The sensation never fails to fill him with dread. Often, he ends up rushing to the first secluded mirror he can find to check on the Mark. Make sure it’s there.

The relief of spotting the bright blue flames nestled snugly in their spot on the small of his back is always short-lived in face of the constant fear of someday not finding anything there at all.

Derek knows just what it means when your Mark disappears and he’d rather not think about losing it before he’s ever met the person it’s supposed to represent.

Yet, for all its flickering and shrinking and sputtering, the flame never actually dies out. Never even really comes close to it. It struggles and struggles and keeps existing despite all odds.

His mother tells him, sad eyes conflicting with her proud tone, that all it means is that his Destined is a survivor.

Laura scoffs and asks what a seven year old would have to survive for their Soul to appear this way.

Peter moves to answer but is stopped in his tracks by a glare from their mother who rushes them out with promises to explain someday when they’re older. The door closes firmly shut behind them but not quickly enough as Derek manages to catch Peter muttering something about terminally sick kids under his breath.

It makes him want to strangle Laura for asking.

 

* * *

 

 That night Derek dreams of a faceless figure curled up in a bed all too big for their tiny frame. He tries to walk up to them- a burning urge to comfort the oddly familiar seeming child –but finds himself frozen in place. He tries to call out and let his presence be known but no sound ever escapes him. He struggles to move, to speak, to do something, anything for the other boy.

Nothing works.

At the end of it all, Derek is left standing in his corner just close enough to give him a good view of his Destined’s- for who else could it be –suffering yet too far away to help in anyway. He’s forced to simply watch as the figure trembles, their body wracked with sobs that grow harsher by the second.

Just as he thinks he can’t take anymore of this though the figure looks up.

For a breathless moment Derek’s entire universe is reduced to a pair of gorgeous, whiskey brown eyes. His Soulmate blinks, more tears escaping down his mole dotted skin. A shaking hand reaches out towards him, practically begging for help as scarily pale, blue lips part open slowly, but surely, to form a word too foreign for his mind to fully process.

Derek wakes up with tear tracks glistening across his skin and an ache ebbing away within his chest right where his heart is supposed to be.

He doesn’t go back to sleep that night.

He never dreams of the boy again either and he’s not sure if he’s sad or glad for the fact.

 

* * *

 

 Stiles sits up in bed, clutching at his chest, hands shooting up to his face to muffle his sobs.

His father is slumped asleep in a chair next to his bed and he doesn’t want to wake him up. The man has been worked half to death these past few weeks and Stiles getting hospitalized again only made everything that much worse.

His mother isn’t there. His parents started taking turns staying overnight with him after the third time he had to be hospitalized, having realized by then the importance of getting enough rest during these periods of constant stress.

There’s a stab of guilt that runs through him and he looks away from his father’s exhausted face, turning to look out the window on the other side of the room instead.

The sight of skyscrapers and a yellowed sky is jarring even after all these months. He misses the clear skies of his hometown on nights like these more than ever. The moon had always given him a sense of comfort and solace. The stars were just pretty.

He feels his Mark move away from where it has been settled above his heart, travelling down his left arm until it curls around his wrist. He brings his hand up and smiles sadly at the gorgeous black wolf that has twisted itself around his skinny wrist; its blue eyes glowing curiously up at the moon.

Stiles thinks of the dream he just woke up crying from. He thinks about the boy in the shadows and the desperation he felt coming from him. Thinks about the first word that always comes to mind whenever he thinks about his Soulmate.

 One of the first words he ever learnt in his mother’s native tongue- the one and only thing his parents had once had in common long before they were married and in love. Long before the burden of a dying child crushed any chance they ever had of a Happily Ever After.

The Polish flows naturally from his tongue as he gazes at the moon, past the ink on the back of his palm, and whispers-

“ _Wilk._ ”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Wilk is Wolf in Polish, just in case anyone didn't get that from context.
> 
> I'm probably gonna incorporate a little bit of Polish here and there but not too much. Translations of terms used will be available in end notes. So there's that.
> 
> Leave a kudos/comment if you liked it or something, it will be very much appreciated.
> 
> Also, I'm on [Tumblr](http://notepadhalffull.tumblr.com/) if you wanna say hi ^~^
> 
> Chapter 2 will be up Thursday of next week.


End file.
